Sherborne

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SHERBORNE (Parish Council)

District : West Dorset

Official blazon

Arms : Azure a Cross triparted and fretted Argent between four Double Roses Gules on Argent en soliel barbed and seeded Gold.
Crest : On a Wreath Argent and Azure out of an Ancient Crown Or a double headed and twin-tailed Wyvem displayed Argent armed and langued Gules; Mantled Azure doubled Argent.
Supporters : On either side a Griffin segreant reguardant the aquiline parts Argent beaked and gorged with an Ancient Crown Or the leonine parts also Or armed and langued Gules.
Motto : 'SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA'

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted in 1986.

The design is predominantly silver and blue to symbolize the Old English 'scire burn' or 'clear stream' from which Sherborne derives its name. These were also the colours of Bishop le Poore, who in 1228 granted a charter to the Borough of Newland, and of the former Urban District Council. The shield emphasises the Town's principal benefactors: The silver cross from the Abbey's arms is interlaced to symbolize the complex inter-relationships of Town and Abbey, the interlaced strands also being reference to the Town's ancient weaving industry. The field is blue as in the arms of Digby, lords of the manor and benefactors of Sherborne. The reversed Tudor Rose and Sun in Splendour badges of King Edward VI are here combined to represent the reconstitution of Sherborne School (the King's School) in 1550.

The crest refers to the Town's Saxon origins: the Wessex Wyvern rises from an Ancient Crown (a reference to St. Aldhelm's membership of the Wessex royal family) and is depicted as having two heads - a reminder of Sherborne's location on the borders of Dorset and Somerset, both counties once part of the ancient kingdom of Wessex in which St. Aldhelm established his cathedral at Sherborne in the year 705.

The griffins - legendary guardians of treasure - symbolize both the Town's pre-eminence as a centre of learning and its vigilance in conserving its heritage, tradition, and character, the reguardant attitude of the beasts emphasising their watchfulness and their respect of the past. Heraldic griffins are half eagle and half lion. Here, the silver eagle parts are from the heraldry of Roger de Caen, builder of the 'old' castle and, as bishop of Sarum, chiefly responsible for the construction of the Norman abbey. The gold lion parts represent the Town's royal association and are reminiscent of the lions in the Dorset County arms. The crowns which form the collars of the two griffins represent the two Saxon Kings, Ethelbald and Ethelbert, who are buried in the Abbey.

The motto is taken from the Sherborne Missal, one of the finest medieval manuscripts in existence, and the badge is a representation of the Castle and Abbey - the Town's principal features in the popular mind.